October 19, 2018

NHL the week in preview October 19, 2018

NBCSN has another first with carrying a complete game involving 2 Canadian teams in an indoor game. The U.S. channel will travel to Winnipeg for only the second time ever in the regular season as the Jets host the Toronto Maple Leafs. The game is also Wednesday Night Hockey for Rogers Sportsnet One.

The NHL Network showcases the Toronto Maple Leafs on Hockey Night in Canada with the St. Louis Blues north of the border with the CBC feed. The channel also follows the Blues to Winnipeg Monday night.

CBC has the Maple Leafs early on Saturday with Edmonton hosting P.K. Subban and the yellow-covered Predators in the late game.

City TV carries a rare doubleheader starting with the Habs in the nation's capital. The channels will draw Vancouver hosting Boston in the nightcap.

Rogers Sportsnet jumps back in to carry the 100th episode of Hometown Hockey from London, ON as Calgary goes to the Big Apple.

Besides Wednesday Night Hockey, Rogers Sportsnet One helps out Edmonton with a pair of home games against Pittsburgh on Tuesday and Washington on Thursday.

Rogers Sportsnet 360 helps out with Calgary hosting Nashville on Friday and Vancouver landing in the bright lights of the desert late on Wednesday.

Rogers Sportsnet

Rogers Sportsnet One

Rogers Sportsnet 360

FridayNashville @ Calgary, 9pWednesdayVancouver @ Las Vegas, 10p

"We're north of the 49th in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies as we welcome you to Calgary."

Chris Cuthbert used that intro to welcome the NBCSN audience to a place where the network has never been in the regular season: the Scotiabank Saddledome. This was only the second time NBCSN had been in Calgary in the regular season and the first since the 2011 Heritage Classic on February 20.

NBCSN did get the national audience out to Calgary without missing a beat. The U.S. TV deal forced a delay in the Calgary start since there is only a single outlet.

Cuthbert worked with Pierre McGuire, who draws the late game when NBCSN has a doubleheader this season. McGuire didn't yell in a rude fashion at the Canadian team, unlike last season with Edmonton. When McGuire doesn't yell, NBCSN sets his voice so low, you can't always follow what he is saying.

Cuthbert mentioned the Calgary Stampede just before the start of the 2nd period.

The NBCSN studio crew continues to do a crappy job. The Flames had 3 goals in the 1st period but the analysis was centered around Boston's top line without acknowledging Calgary's offensive firepower.

Gord Miller did his part for NBCSN this week in St. Paul with McGuire on Tuesday and in Dallas tonight with the Inside-the-Glass debut of AJ Mleczko.

NBCSN will send its #1 doubleheader crew to Winnipeg on Wednesday: Doc Emrick, Eddie Olczyk, and Brian Boucher. Emrick might have called a Winnipeg Jets game on Fox in the mid-1990s or more likely with ESPN in the late 1980s. Olczyk has history in Winnipeg as a member of the Jets 1.0. Boucher will be massively confused since his motivation is to root against the Canadian team. Watch for Boucher to be biased toward the Maple Leafs.

We usually ignore the NBCSN pregame for very good reasons. This year, NBCSN is experimenting with an on-the-road pregame show and will be in Winnipeg Wednesday night. NBCSN rarely shows the anthems in games but maybe the channel can make an exception for O Canada at Bell MTS Place.

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Bryan Mudryk is the new TV voice on Habs games on TSN2 but that won't stop Mudryk from filling in on Senators telecasts on TSN5. Chris Cuthbert and Gord Miller had Saturday CFL games so Mudryk handled the Senators home game on Saturday.

CKVU Channel 10, the City station in Vancouver, carried the Vancouver game Saturday night along with Rogers Sportsnet One. We aren't sure how the station also carried the Montréal game, assigned to City coast-to-coast. Hopefully, Vancouver NHL fans got a choice.

In the second week of the season, the CBC promos were presented in a highly haphazard fashion, falling a promo short of the 6 required promos. We got 1 promo in the 1st period and 0 promos in the 3rd period.

They ran a CBC promo for Anne with an E just before the start of the 2nd period, an ineffective time since viewers are often away from their sets, some tuning out Don Cherry in Coach's Corner. We didn't get the late game to compare notes so the NHL Network might have covered a promo but not likely.

Comments

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In regards to CKVU carrying the Canucks-Panthers HNIC game, I couldn't find the Penguins-Canadiens game available anywhere else on TV. The only alternative would have been Sportsnet NOW (online streaming service). Perhaps this was an experiment of some sort.

I figured the switch was likely linked to the Roberto Luongo celebration.

I know there are City TV affiliates in Kamloops (CFJC) and Prince George (CKPG), but I don't know if they copied CKVU. Or maybe if you have timeshifting and can find a City TV affiliate elsewhere in the country.